ED ROLLINS' SPIN CYCLE

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LETTER FROM WASHINGTON about campaign strategist Ed Rollins. After managing Christine Todd Whitman's successful campaign for Governor of New Jersey this year, Rollins boasted that he had paid black ministers to play down their support for incumbent Jim Florio. He later claimed he had been lying when he said this. Writer argues that Rollins's reputation as an effective campaign strategist is undeserved. Recounts Rollins's background and career. He worked for President Nixon's re-election campaign and was a minor bureaucrat in the Ford and Carter Administrations. Lyn Nofziger and Lee Atwater got him positions in the Reagan Administration. He managed President Reagan's re-election campaign. In 1985, he joined consultants Sal Russo & Doug Watts. He worked for the Linda Chavez, Jack Kemp, and Ross Perot campaigns, unsuccessfully. All charged that he had been uninvolved. Worked for the National Republican Congressional Committee, leaving it with a six-million-dollar debt. Joined the Sawyer/Miller Group, a p.r. firm, and joined the Whitman campaign. Some believe he made the claims about paying off black ministers to prevent media consultant Michael Murphy from claiming credit for the victory.